By the time you receive this issue, our Tercentenary year will be well under way and our Rulers will have already attended overseas events in Denmark, Mumbai, India, and Zakynthos, Greece, at our unattached Star of the East Lodge, No. 880. His Royal Highness The Duke of Kent has also attended a church service at Canterbury Cathedral for the Provinces of East and West Kent, Sussex and Surrey. We now await the broadcast in April of the long-anticipated Sky TV documentary Inside The Freemasons.

It is an exciting year as we build towards our showpiece event at the end of October. So far, it is likely that we will welcome around 160 Grand Lodges from around the world to celebrate with us at the Royal Albert Hall and look forward to our next 300 years. We now need to build on our successes and use this year to show ourselves as the vibrant and relevant organisation which is Freemasonry.

Looking forward to the Tercentenary in this issue of Freemasonry Today, Keith Gilbert highlights the planning and organisation of celebratory events taking place across not just the UK but the entire world. As Pro Grand Master Peter Lowndes notes in his Senior Insights column, these are exciting times, so we should celebrate in style by showing our pride in being Freemasons.

When it comes to showing the best in Freemasonry, Spinnaker Lodge in the Province of Hampshire & Isle of Wight is a shining beacon. We find out how its members are encouraging younger Freemasons into the Craft with a shared interest in all things sailing. The sixth specialist lodge in the Province to be consecrated in the past four years, Spinnaker will be visiting new marinas and hosting social events at sailing clubs to raise both its own profile and that of Freemasonry in 2017.

Best foot forward

In the north-west of England, we meet a 54-strong group of Freemasons, their families and friends who trekked across Morecambe Bay. Cumberland & Westmorland Provincial Grand Master Norman Thompson and his intrepid travellers not only raised money to help victims of the Cumbria floods, but also showed how Freemasonry is connecting with local communities. The team joined some 1,000 walkers at Arnside Promenade to brave the wet and puddled sands for a memorable day that is now an annual event in the Provincial calendar.

The opportunities for Freemasonry are not just in the face we show the world, but are also in our governance, our leadership, our retention and our management of masonic halls. The Chairman of the Improvement Delivery Group, David Wootton, reports on how he and his team are leading the implementation and delivery of our agreed strategy for Freemasonry to 2020. As David notes, there is much to do but also much to enjoy.

With a passion for sailing, the members of Spinnaker Lodge want to help younger Freemasons navigate their way through the Craft, as Matthew Bowen discovers

It’s not often that you hear the words ‘pontoon party’ and ‘Freemasonry’ together. Formal suits aren’t exactly de rigueur at the marina and aprons tend not to mix well with high winds. But the members of a new lodge see sailing and Freemasonry as perfect crew mates.

In November 2016, Spinnaker Lodge, No. 9932, became the sixth specialist lodge in the Province of Hampshire & Isle of Wight to be consecrated in the past four years under the leadership of Provincial Grand Master Mike Wilks. Like other specialist lodges, such as Football Lodge and Chequered Flag Lodge, Spinnaker centres its proceedings around a common interest; charitable giving will focus on supporting boating charities – and members will travel to meetings by boat.

So how to go about creating a specialist lodge? The first step, according to the lodge’s inaugural Master, Frank Milner, was to see how many of the Province’s 9,000 members were interested in sailing. As the proud owner of a Moody 27 yacht himself, Frank tested the water by issuing a circular, Calling All Yachtsmen.

One of the first to respond to Frank’s invitation was Adam Harvey, who is now the Junior Warden at Spinnaker Lodge. ‘I’ve been sailing since I was 12 or 13,’ he says, ‘so when I saw the invitation I couldn’t turn it down. It struck me as a good thing to have something else to bond over in addition to being brothers.’

Frank’s original intention had been to start a sailing club, rather than a masonic lodge, but encouraged by a 25-strong crew of the keenest boatmen in the Province, he decided to push his idea further. Together they took on the challenge of founding the new lodge.

‘It’s been a learning curve,’ says Frank. ‘If you join an established lodge, the traditions are already in place, but when you find yourself making on-the-spot decisions about how to run a double initiation ceremony, for example, you realise you have a task on your hands.’

Some of the decisions were easy to make: naturally, all members must have an interest in boating (though owning a boat is not a requirement) and they must all be prepared to learn the words to the official lodge song, What Shall We Do with a Drunken Sailor.

Navigating new waters

Deciding how to appeal to new, younger members, however, has proven to be a trickier affair. ‘We are working hard to bridge the gap between young, trendy sailing guys and our traditional formalities by developing our meetings to meet their expectations,’ says Frank, determinedly. In the face of declining membership, he believes that appealing to the younger generation is crucial for Freemasonry, and his greatest hope for the new lodge is to see younger masons coming up through the ranks.

To make ritualistic masonic life appeal to millennial males, Frank is aware that he must be flexible with the rules. As well as applying the principles of brevity, the lodge will operate in a somewhat nomadic fashion as it casts its net wider in the search for new members.

Meetings at the lodge’s official headquarters, the Royal Naval and Royal Albert Yacht Club in Southsea, will be limited to twice a year, with three more taking place at other masonic centres along the coast, where members will cast anchor for the weekend. By visiting new marinas and hosting social events at sailing clubs, it is hoped that the profile of Spinnaker Lodge will rise among those who could potentially make perfect new members.

Given that the modern man is likely to be time poor, what would convince him to join Spinnaker Lodge? ‘Aside from the personal development opportunities, younger members will be able to tap into the knowledge of more experienced sailors,’ says Frank. By joining older brethren on their boats, younger sailors will be shown the ropes on different crafts.

‘We are working hard to bridge the gap between young, trendy sailing guys and our traditional formalities by developing our meetings to meet their expectations’ Frank Milner

Smooth sailing

As far as Adam is concerned, special interest lodges are the way forward for Freemasonry, enhancing the appeal of joining as well as creating greater enthusiasm among masons. And when it comes to getting greater commitment from existing members, the founding members of Spinnaker Lodge know there’s nothing more powerful than family.

By holding lodge meetings at weekends, and setting up temporary bases in marinas within easy distance of a masonic hall, Spinnaker Lodge offers family members the chance to meet and socialise. Senior Warden Adrian Cleightonhills, who sails a Southerly 32, says, ‘I’m keen that Freemasonry shouldn’t just be for the man of the house. It can take a fair amount of his time and I feel that it should be done with the encouragement, and involvement, of his family.’

Women and non-masonic members of the family won’t take part in lodge meetings, but they’ll keep the party going while the meetings take place, which is proving to be a popular notion. ‘When we’ve spoken to potential new members, this is the thing they show most interest in alongside the sailing,’ says Adrian.

Anchored in tradition

But Spinnaker Lodge will not only apply itself to appealing to new members; moral and spiritual values will not be compromised, and the lodge will remain dedicated to being a force for good in the community. Spinnaker will choose a sailing charity to support each year – this year it’s the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust – and the personal progression of members will be enhanced by developing them as sailors as well as men. And while the lodge would like its membership to double over the next five years, it’s not its biggest priority and won’t be achieved at any cost.

At the lodge’s first meeting in January this year, Spinnaker initiated two new members, both in their 20s and both keen boatmen.

They are the future of the lodge, and their success within it will ultimately reflect the lodge’s success as a whole. The winds of change are certainly blowing in Spinnaker’s sails and, as Frank says, ‘it’s all up for grabs’.

FIND OUT MORE Contact Spinnaker Lodge at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

In accordance with Rule 225 Book of Constitutions, the dates when the Board of General Purposes will meet in 2017 are: 7 February, 21 March, 16 May, 18 July and 19 September.

Television Documentary

By the time that Grand Lodge meets, filming for the documentary Inside the Freemasons will have been completed. The series, made by Emporium Productions for Sky, is likely to be broadcast in January 2017.

The Board wishes to emphasise the point made by the MW Pro Grand Master at the June Quarterly Communication that both at that meeting and elsewhere some things had been filmed in order to give a representative picture of Freemasonry which should not be seen as precedents to be followed by individual lodges in future.

Questions as to what might properly be filmed arose regularly during the filming for the series, and not every member of the Craft might agree with the decisions which were made – often under significant pressure of time – but the Board trusts that the Grand Lodge will take the view that the decisions taken were justified in the interests of the Craft as a whole.

Attendance at Lodges under the English Constitution by Brethren from other Grand Lodges

The Board considers it appropriate to draw attention to Rule 125 (b), Book of Constitutions, and the list of Grand Lodges recognised by the United Grand Lodge of England, which is published in the Masonic Year Book, copies of which are sent to secretaries of lodges.

Attendance at Lodges Overseas

The continuing growth in overseas travel brings with it an increase in visits by our Brethren to lodges of other jurisdictions, and the Board welcomes this trend. Brethren are, however, reminded that they are permitted to visit lodges overseas only if they come under a jurisdiction which is recognised by the United Grand Lodge of England.

A list of recognised Grand Lodges is published annually, but as the situation does change from time to time, Brethren should not attempt to make any masonic contact overseas without having first checked (preferably in writing) with the Grand Secretary’s Office at Freemasons’ Hall, Great Queen Street, London WC2B 5AZ, that there is recognised Freemasonry in the country concerned and, if so, whether there is any particular point which should be watched.

Recognition of a Foreign Grand Lodge

The Grand Lodge of the State of Rio Grande do Sul was formed in 1928 by four lodges regularly constituted by the Grand Orient of Brazil and which, because of internal problems, broke away from their parent to form a separate Grand Lodge within the territorial limits of the State of Rio Grande do Sul.

In 1961 and again in 2005 the Grand Orient of Brazil entered into treaties with the Grand Lodge of the State of Rio Grande do Sul by which each party recognised the other as regular and allowed inter-visitation between their members.

The Grand Registrar has advised that by signing those treaties the Grand Orient agreed to share its territory with the State Grand Lodge and it is not therefore necessary for this Grand Lodge formally to seek the agreement of the Grand Orient to its recognising the State Grand Lodge of Rio Grande do Sul.

The State Grand Lodge having shown that it both conforms to the Basic Principles for Grand Lodge Recognition and has worked regularly since 1928, the Board has no reason to believe that it will not maintain a regular path and recommends that the State Grand Lodge of Rio Grande do Sul be recognised. A Resolution to this affect was approved.

Social Media

The Board had considered the question of social media and had agreed a policy, which is available from the Grand Secretary’s office or online at www.ugle.org.uk. The Board recommended the policy to Grand Lodge which was approved.

Seven members of the Craft were expelled as required by Rule 277 (a) (i) (B), Book of Constitutions.

Report of Library and Museum Trust

The Board had received a report from the Library and Museum Charitable Trust.

The Library and Museum spent much of 2015 preparing to open a major new exhibition, Three Centuries of English Freemasonry, located in additional gallery space on the first floor. The exhibition breaks new ground in seeking to explain both Freemasonry’s values of sociability, inclusivity, charity and integrity and its history and development.

This is the first exhibition for which the Library and Museum team has worked with exhibition designers and external contractors for the design, build and installation. Preparation of material for display has also involved conservation of a number of objects, books and documents and the creation of cataloguing records.

The exhibition opened to the public in April 2016. A series of gallery talks and other events are being prepared for later this year. Following the opening of the new exhibition gallery, the Library and Museum extended its opening hours to include Saturdays. The Library and Museum also launched itself on social media as an additional means of engaging with users, visitors and members. For a copy of the full Annual Report and Accounts please write to the Director.

From Concept to Reality: Creating an Exhibition about Three Centuries of English Freemasonry

A talk was given by Diane Clements, Director of The Library and Museum of Freemasonry and Stephen Greenberg, Founder and Director, Metaphor.

A Quarterly Communication of Grand Lodge is held on the second Wednesday in March, June, September and December. The next will be at noon on Wednesday, 14 December 2016. Subsequent Communications will be held: 8 March 2017, 14 June 2017; 13 September 2017 and 13 December 2017. The Annual Investiture of Grand Officers takes place on the last Wednesday in April (the next is on 26 April 2017), and admission is by ticket only. A few tickets are allocated by ballot after provision has been made for those automatically entitled to attend. Full details will be given in the Paper of Business for December Grand Lodge.

Convocations of Supreme Grand Chapter

Convocations of Supreme Grand Chapter are held on the second Wednesday in November and the day following the Annual Investiture of Grand Lodge. Future Convocations will be held: 9 November 2016, 27 April 2017 and 8 November 2017.